Chicago Italians at Work

"For more than a century, Italian immigrants and their descendants
contributed their labor and talent to building the city. Chicago
Italians at Work focuses on a period from 1890 to 1970 when industry
was king in this midwestern metropolis. Generations of Italians found
work in companies such as U.S. Steel, Western Electric, Pullman, Crane,
McCormick/Harvester, Hart Schaffner and Marx, and other large
industrial corporations. Other Italians were self-employed as barbers,
shoe workers, tailors, musicians, construction workers, and more. In
many of these trades, Italians were predominant. A complex network of
family enterprises also operated in the Chicago Italian community.
Small shopkeepers generated work in food services and retail
employment; some of these ma-and-pa operations grew into large,
prosperous enterprises that survive today. Finally, Italians helped
develop trade unions, which created long-term economic gains for all
ethnic groups in Chicago. This book chronicles the labor and
contributions of an urban ethnic community through historic photographs
and text."